Ina's Apple Turnovers

I saw some of the other ladies blog updates on this one, since it was a Barefoot Bloggers challenge recently. While I am not a member of the Barefoot Bloggers, I couldn't help but be intrigued by this one, chosen by Anne from the Anne Strawberry blog. (It's great, check it out!)

This was my first attempt at working with puff pastry dough. Granted, it wasn't difficult to roll it out and cut, chill, etc...but I did have some issues with the filling/folding part, as the filling wanted to jump right out and I fear prevented me from sealing them completely. I guess for a first time, it wasn't horrific! They are in the oven right now, the delicious smell even brought Paul up from the basement, saying "Something smells delicious!!!!" He has to wait a few more minutes for me to take them out and to cool a little bit, but it will be worth the wait!

OK, 10 minutes later and sooooooo worth the little cooling wait...these are delicious!! Paul basically inhaled one and a half while I was savoring my one. The flavors were so good, you can really taste that orange in there, but I thought it went really nicely with the apple. The pastry was so light and flaky and I would absolutely love to make these using just cherries! Paul pretty much summed it up when he said "You could impress anyone by making these babies!"

Apple Turnovers - Ina Garten
Courtesy of Food Network

Ingredients
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/4 pounds tart apples, such as Empire or Granny Smith (3 apples)
3 tablespoons dried cherries - I omitted these
3 tablespoons sugar, plus extra to sprinkle on top
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon - I used about 1/2 tsp. of Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg - see substitute for cinnamon
Pinch kosher salt
1 package (17.3 ounces, 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash


Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the orange zest and orange juice in a bowl. Peel, quarter, and core the apples and then cut them in 3/4-inch dice. Immediately toss the apples with the zest and juice to prevent them from turning brown. Add the cherries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Flour a board and lightly roll each sheet of puff pastry to a 12 by 12-inch square. Cut each sheet into 4 smaller squares and keep chilled until ready to use.

Brush the edges of each square with the egg wash and neatly place about 1/3 cup of the apple mixture on half of the square. Fold the pastry diagonally over the apple mixture and seal by pressing the edges with a fork. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the top with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, make 2 small slits, and bake for 20 minutes, until browned and puffed. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I also drizzled ours before serving with a sweet glaze made of a little milk and a lot of confectioners sugar. I eyeballed it and mixed to get rid of lumps and added sugar to get the consistency I desired. Delicious!!!